An ambitious proposal from the Colombian government to make cattle production more sustainable could save over a billion tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions, while protecting forests, regenerating land and boosting farmer incomes. If funded, the work will contribute to the country’s commitments to tackle climate change agreed at COP21 in Paris last week. With around 23 million cattle grazingRead More …

Photos knock down the world’s language barriers and connect people, particularly when it comes to agricultural issues in which the audiences are so diverse: farmers, rural and urban families, NGOs, public and private sector actors, donors, and students. The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CRP-FTA) and CIAT gender specialists would like to bring a twist toRead More …

Tucked away at the back of the one storey building that is CIAT’s Decision and Policy Analysis Research Area, is a door marked E0-30. Inside is a warren of offices, one of which is the Terra-i nerve centre. Here programmers and GIS experts use images from satellites hundreds of kilometres above Earth to track deforestation in Latin America inRead More …

The recent launch of Terra-i, a near real-time deforestation monitoring system for Latin America, brings the hotspots of forest loss into sharp focus. Based on satellite information from NASA, Terra-i can zoom-in on the region’s forests to a resolution of 250m x 250m. It’s smart enough to distinguish between natural losses and those caused by human activity – andRead More …

A complete ban on deforestation in Latin America and the Caribbean could cost farmers in the region more than US$12 billion over the next two decades, according to a new study from the Inter-American Development Bank. While a ban would play a key role in stabilising world greenhouse gas emissions, it would come at significant cost to smallholder farmersRead More …